McVeigh’s Execution Turns Focus on Society
I can’t believe Robert Scheer is promoting the idea that “we failed Timothy McVeigh” (Commentary, June 12). Get over it, Mr. Scheer. We did not fail him. We don’t need your “it takes a village” ideas, which raise our kids and then blame us, as a society, for their failures too.
McVeigh’s own family’s personal failure doomed him long before he went out the door and to war. He was dysfunctional with his own dad, mother and sister. He then had to arrive in a snowstorm, clad only in sweatpants, to see his grandfather, who gave him a bed to flop on as he cried his eyes out about his failures in the military. Then, according to friends, he had a mission to go after his hated big government and found the Waco tragedy as his lightning rod to spark a purpose into his life.
How really tragic is it? He could have found his true purpose in life through his own family values. That is where the blame truly lies, Mr. Scheer, with his own family’s failure.
Donald Dickey
Westlake Village
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Re “Justice Survives” editorial, June 11: It would be funny, if it weren’t so incredibly revolting, how The Times praises our intact “society of laws, compassion and fairness” in the face of McVeigh’s execution, while simultaneously reporting (“McVeigh Called ‘Ready to Die’ ”) how that same society is hawking T-shirts and renting out rooftops to execution looky-loos--a society that still confuses justice with revenge and liberty with making a fast buck. How compassionate indeed. And how embarrassing.
Mitchell Thompson
Los Angeles
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As a former opponent of the death penalty, I can only imagine how it feels to lose a loved one in a violent, deliberate terrorist act. If someone were to take my son’s life, how would I feel? Monday morning, following the execution of McVeigh, I discussed my mixed feelings on the death penalty with my son, who has been following the McVeigh story for a long time. He listened, then simply replied: “Thou shall not kill.”
Karin W. Ahlf
Costa Mesa
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McVeigh got what he deserved for the Oklahoma City massacre. Now we will get what we deserve for imposing the death penalty on him.
Dary Fiorentino
Van Nuys